By ALLAN KOAY
star2green@thestar.com.my
Single-use coffee pods – a cup of environmental harm?
FOR coffee drinkers, it is like a miracle gadget. All you have to do is open a hatch, slip in a little capsule containing enough coffee grounds for a cup of espresso, then press a button. You don’t even have to tear open the top foil covering the capsule. Within 20 seconds, voila! – you have a perfect cup of espresso with a nice layer of crema on top.
It makes a great cuppa, is very convenient, and best of all, is fast. You can have your coffee fix even before you can say “I need caffeine”.
But the big question is: What do you do with all those discarded capsules after they’ve provided the boost to your day?
Caffeine fix: Malaysians love their coffee and many have discovered the excellent brews made from single-serve coffeemakers. But with such machines, you produce waste with every cup.
Even in today’s world where the use of plastic is frowned upon and every effort is being made to reduce non-biodegradable waste, it might be easy to miss the environmental issue here as those capsules are tiny and would not seem to contribute much to our daily pile of rubbish.
In Malaysia, the market for these machines is still relatively new, but in the United States, market research by NPD Group has shown that 46% of money spent on coffee machines are for single-serving ones. Keurig, a major player in the one-cup coffee business in the US, reported that research it commissioned indicated that 13% of all US offices have one of its brewers. It says its sales of coffee capsules more than doubled in 2011 over 2010.
Locally, you can now find single-serving coffee machines in homes, offices and hotels, and the choices keep growing. Brands such as Nespresso make their machines and capsules extremely sleek and stylish. Nescafe’s Dolce Gusto machines that make espresso, mocha, latte and cappuccino are widely available in department and electronics stores here. And Coffex Coffee, which produces coffee beans and coffee products, will be importing single-serving machines that make espresso, tea and chocolate, from German manufacturer Krueger later this year. Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (CBTL) also has its own single-serving machines that make espresso, brewed coffee and tea. Each machine only accepts capsules of its own brand.
According to Coffex executive director, Kelvin Ngow, studies have shown that in an Asian household, at least two capsules are consumed a day while in a European home, it is three capsules. In a small office, the number is about five capsules a day, while in a large office, it is 10 capsules. None of the companies interviewed disclosed their sales figures, so the actual number of capsules discarded in a month is anyone’s guess. But judging from the growing popularity of the single-serving coffee machines, the waste pile is building up.
Taking responsibility
Consumers are lapping up this new technology but just how many are aware of the environmental impact of those capsules and the need to recycle them?
At a waste recycling centre in the outskirts of Geneva, Switzerland, there is a huge bin specifically for used coffee capsules. Unfortunately, such a collection system does not exist in Malaysia.
The capsules are made of either aluminium or plastic; so they are recyclable. The grounds, meanwhile can be added to the compost heap. Both Nescafe Dolce Gusto and Nespresso have recycling programmes in countries with high consumption of their products, namely Europe. (Comments were not available from CBTL at press time.)
But so far, none of the local retailers or importers of one-cup coffee machines have initiated effort to better-handle the waste left behind by their products. It looks like the onus of properly managing the waste falls on the consumer. And the fact that the newer machines do not only make espresso but other beverages as well simply means the number of capsules discarded will increase. And to manage the discarded capsules, consumers have to separate the plastic capsule, foil covering and grounds. Quite simply, these single-serving machines provide consumers with convenience, but not the convenience for managing the waste they create.
Most consumers toss the used coffee pods into the trash bin once they’re done. One exception is May Lim, a housewife in Kuala Lumpur. She is the owner of a Nespresso machine which she bought from Singapore two years ago. She likes the convenience it offers, especially when she has guests over. During those occasions, she can serve more than 10 cups of espresso. Mindful of the waste that she is generating, she makes the effort to collect the aluminium capsules and put them together with the aluminium cans for the garbage collection.
“It’s not a hassle really,” said Lim. “It’s our duty. We must try to minimise our impact on the environment and where things can be fixed, we should do it.”
Some consumers have even removed the grounds before discarding the aluminium capsule for recycling at a waste centre in Geneva.
But for Tan Cheng Yen, who works for a railway construction company in Kuala Lumpur, it is a different story. There is a single-serve coffee machine in her office, and it is used by the five employees based there.
“I didn’t even know that the capsules can be recycled,” said Tan. “But I can see there is a lot of wastage. So initially, I got my colleagues to reuse the capsules for a second brew, and they did for a while. But I guess they prefer the taste of the first cup, so they have stopped doing it.”
She said her office does practise recycling, especially for paper, but the plastic capsules get thrown out with the normal rubbish.
“A lot of people would recycle if it is made convenient for them,” she said.
Ngow points out that the infrastructure for effective recycling simply does not exist here.
“This (Krueger capsule) is recyclable plastic, but unless Malaysia has a recycling programme, all the capsules will end up in the bin,” he said. “Some markets are good at recycling, There are bins for plastics, for paper and all that. Here you can find recycling bins but people still throw rubbish indiscriminately. The government is not doing enough to create awareness about the bins and the separation of trash.”
Ngow said the best solution is to make products that are biodegradable but as an importer, he has no control over how a product is manufactured. He, however, gave the assurance that should the government provide the right infrastructure for effective recycling, he would not hesitate to give his full support.
Christophe Wyss, senior brand manager of Nescafe Dolce Gusto, said: “We are working on further reducing the weight of our capsules to minimise the material usage and we are collaborating with our supplier to develop new materials that are made from responsibly managed, renewable resources.” The company aims to reduce the carbon footprint of the capsules and packaging by 7% by 2015.
Bad design?
For some environmentalists, the single-serving coffee pods are just simply, not designed with the environment in mind. In a recent New York Times article, Darby Hoover, a senior resource specialist for the Natural Resources Defense Council in the US, called this technology “a design for unsustainability.” He said: “The whole concept of the product is a little bit counter to environmental progress. If you are trying to create something that is single-use, disposable, and relies on a one-way packaging that can’t be recycled, there are inherent problems with that.”
Other environmentalists prefer an all-or-nothing approach – if it is not biodegradable, then don’t use it at all, they say. Leela Panikkar, co-founder of environmental organisation Treat Every Environment Special (TrEES) said: “It is always better to reduce waste as much as possible. While recycling is important, if we can avoid producing the waste in the first place, that is a better option. We would advise coffee drinkers to use ordinary coffee brewers, with reusable metal mesh filters, which is the best option, as there is little or no waste after making the coffee.”
She said for those who simply cannot avoid using the one-cup capsules, they should make every effort to recycle the pods.
“TrEES believes that companies that produce single-cup brewers have a responsibility and obligation to ensure that recycled materials are used when producing the capsules, that they can be recycled and are labelled to allow for recycling, and assistance is given to make recycling programmes of these capsules viable and easily accessible,” added Leela.
Matthias Gelber, environmental speaker and founder of Ecowarriors Malaysia, has stronger words: “Whether you use recyclable plastic or not does not make a big difference. We can have great coffee without the production of such waste. Let’s not waste our time and money on these machines that can never be a good green solution.”
He said it is unrealistic to expect consumers to take the initiative to recycle the capsules and have a system in place for that. Stressing the need for good environmental design, he says: “Some things are not good for the planet, so we need to get rid of them if there are better alternatives. The only thing I would recommend is, do not get such a machine in the first place and avoid the waste. Avoid, refuse, and only then reuse and recycle.”
In the end it all boils down to a tough choice for the coffee enthusiast – convenience and good tasting coffee or the future of the planet.
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